All Alone
by Leana-Vine
Summary: Bruce was confused. "Who are you? What the hell is this?" The man cocked an eyebrow. "You don't remember me, Dr. Banner? You included me in your stories. Why don't you think hard about it. I'll give you a minute." He changed his stance, holding his hands behind his back. Bruce's eyes widened. "Nick…." Nick half smiled a bit. "Remember me yet, Dr. Banner?" Oneshot. I own nothing.


**A/N: **Okay I know this is short and may be confusing, but I cam up with the idea a long while ago and tonight I decided, what the heck, may as well write it. It's just a oneshot, so this is it.

This has been newly edited. There shouldn't be any errors. If there are then damn, three days of nonstop work must've really got to my eyes. Please read, review, and enjoy.

* * *

"_We won…." Captain said, looking somewhere distant. His breath was huffing and he looked slightly in disbelief._

_Tony sighed from where he lay on the ground, and he let his head fall back, eyes going closed. "Alright. Hey! Alright good job guys." His enthusiasm was tired out. "Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma?" Steve smiled, laughing a bit at him. "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."_

_Thor was still serious, not seeking time for games just yet. "We're not finished yet."_

_Steve looked back at him, breath still huffing, his smile gone. Tony also looked up at him, a bit dismayed._

"Dr. Banner…Dr. Banner wake up."

* * *

Bruce's eyes popped open and he gasped, his chest lifting. His eyes darted around him wildly. All around him - the walls, floor, ceiling - was reinforced with some sort of metal. He assumed it was unbreakable, due to his nastier side. He couldn't remember anything past driving away with Tony after the fight with Loki.

"Where-where am I?" he breathed, feeling so weak and constricted. He looked down at himself, and what looked like a straitjacket made out of the same metal that made up the room was around him. He tried to pull his arms, to move his torso at all, but he couldn't. His heart rate was accelerating, and he could feel himself losing control. His breathing was heavier, labored, as he was trying to fight. He groaned. "What is this- where am I?"

A man dressed in all white came through a heavy, metal door and walked over to him. As he struggled, the man grabbed his head and jerked it to the side, injecting a syringe into his jugular. Bruce growled more, feeling as if he was starting to slip away, but then he felt calmness wash over him.

A voice came from another part of the room. "Calm down, Dr. Banner. No one will hurt you here."

The man in all white stood back up straight and walked away. He went out the door and closed it. This was followed by sounds of heavy locks turning over.

"Whoever you are mister," Bruce said, still breathing heavy, "I don't think you want to be locked up in here with me."

Slight chuckling came from the darkness in the room. "Well I'm not worried. See that vest you're wearing? It's made purely of Vibranium metal. That's what this room is lined with, too."

Bruce's brows furrowed together as he thought out loud. "Vibranium…that's the same material-"

"That 'Captain America's' shield is made out of? Yes, it is. Or so you say, Dr. Banner." Out of the darkness walked a man in a long, black, leather trench coat. He was African American, 6'2", and he looked old, maybe in his sixties. He watched Bruce closely with his one eye. "I'm not sure how you knew that metal alloy existed, or where you came up with your tall tales, but I have to say I'm impressed."

Bruce was confused. "Who are you? What the hell is this?"

The man cocked an eyebrow. "You don't remember me, Dr. Banner? You included me in your stories. Why don't you think hard about it. I'll give you a minute." He changed his stance, holding his hands behind his back.

Bruce was still ambivalent. "I don't understand. What stories?"

The man's mouth quirked for a second. "Dr. Banner, my name is Nick Fury. You tended to call me Director Fury in these stories of yours, because I'm the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Bruce's eyes widened. "Nick…."

Nick half smiled a bit. "Remember me yet, Dr. Banner?"

Bruce nodded, but he was still perplexed. "What are you doing here? What is this about?" He struggled a bit in his vest again.

Fury started to pace. "Well, Dr. Banner, that's what I've come here to ask you. What _is _this all about? I've come for answers, and my hopes are that you'll be able to give them to me."

Bruce shook his head. "I can't give answers to the same questions I ask."

Fury chuckled again. "I understand that, Dr. Banner." He glanced at him, sitting on the floor, looking so cold in that metal. "I'll make you a deal. If you can give me an answer to any of the questions I ask you first, I'll bring someone in here to get you out of that vest. Do we have a deal?"

Bruce nodded. "I'll try, but I'm very puzzled."

Nick gave him a nod. "That's alright, it's expected." He stopped pacing and came to kneel in front of Bruce so that they'd be at eye level with each other. "Now, Dr. Banner-"

"Please, call me Bruce," he asked - almost pleaded. He was tired of hearing 'Dr. Banner.'

Nick half smiled a bit. "Alright, _Bruce_. I'm going to start with some fairly easy questions first about your…_colleagues_. Think that's alright?"

Colleagues? The Avengers? "Okay."

Nick nodded once. "Can you tell me all their names again?"

Bruce looked at the floor. "Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and Thor."

Nick nodded once. "Alright, good. Can you tell me about this villain, what was he? A brother to one of these people?"

Bruce looked up at Nick and cocked a brow. How could Nick not remember? "Yeah, his name was Loki. He was Thor's adopted little brother."

Nick nodded once again, accepting that answer as well. "Good, good. Alright, last of the easy questions. What was the name of the minions or whoever that Loki had with him?"

"The Chitauri, his army," Bruce answered, seamlessly.

Nick stood. "That'll do for now, Bruce."

He looked to a camera in the corner of the room and two men, both dressed completely in white, came in the door. They went directly to Bruce and pushed him forward, each of them pulling out a key to unlock two locks holding the vest together. Once unlocked, the vest made a clicking noise, and the two men bent it on its hinges so that it could be lifted off of Bruce.

Bruce shook out his arms, both of them popping. He flexed his fingers then looked up to watch the men walk out with the vest. Once the door was closed again, and it was locked, Fury pulled back his coat a bit and put a hand on the pistol he hand on his side.

"Don't let this alarm you, Bruce, but if you try anything funny, I will shoot you in your head. That astringent you were given earlier is going to keep you from becoming the Hulk, so don't do anything stupid like try to attack me or escape."

Bruce stood then nodded. "Alright, I understand."

Nick gave him a nod back. "Well then we're really in business, aren't we?" He smiled a bit before crossing his arms. "Alright, Dr. Banner, why don't you tell me everything you know about Tony Stark, aka the person you call Iron Man."

Bruce was a bit unsettled by the way Nick said that. "Tony?" '_The person "I" call Iron Man?'_

"Well, what can I say?" He shrugged. "His father was Anthony Stark. He's in his forties I think. He's a self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. He has an arc reactor in his chest that keeps him from dying-'

"Tell me more about that, if you would, Dr. Banner. The _arc reactor_. What exactly is that?"

Bruce cocked his head to the side, still unsure of why Nick was asking these questions. "Well, on a tour in Afghanistan with his friend Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, they were ambushed and one of his own missiles blew up right in his face. The shrapnel went into his chest, and after he was captured by terrorists called Ten Rings, I believe, Dr. Yinsen built an electromagnet that was powered by a car battery and he put it in Tony's chest. It kept the shrapnel from reaching his heart, but carrying around the car battery was a chore, so Tony created a miniature version of the arc reactor and placed it in his chest. The arc reactor was something that Tony's father, Howard Stark, had already developed before, but it was much larger-" He stopped to notice how Nick was staring at him in complete awe. Then it struck Bruce, '_How did I know all of that?'_

Nick cleared his throat. "Well, that's quite a story. What about Steve Rogers, or as you know him, Captain America?"

Bruce stepped a bit closer to Nick. "Director Fury, what is going on? Why are you asking me about the Avengers? You know them all."

Nick sighed, rubbing his forehead with his index finger and thumb. When he looked back up at Bruce, his face was very serious. "Well, to be honest, Dr. Banner-"

"Bruce. Please, call me Bruce."

Nick half smiled for a second then it faded. "To be honest, Bruce, they told me that you weren't responding to treatment, so they requested that I come down here."

This just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Treatment for what? Nick, please, just tell me, what is all of this about? Is there something wrong with me?"

Fury laughed a bit. "You mean other than the fact that you turn into a green behemoth when your heart accelerates? I'm familiar with your situation, Bruce. Why else would you be locked up so tightly?"

Bruce backed into the wall behind him. "You're _familiar _with me? Nick, we worked together. You're the one that began the Avengers Initiative. Did you forget all of that?"

Fury stepped a bit closer. "Well, no I did not forget that, Bruce. _Because it never happened_."

Bruce's eyes widened and he started to slide down to the floor. "Wha-what?"

Nick sighed again. "Bruce, you've been suffering from multiple personality disorder for quite some time now. For three years, just about."

Now Bruce was on the floor, looking at Nick in total bewilderment. He was completely lost. "What? But…how? I don't understand. Who have I been pretending to be?"

Nick came and knelt in front of Bruce again. "Everyone, Bruce. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Thor, Loki, they were all in your mind."

Bruce gripped his hair in both hands. "I-I-I-I-I don't understand…." He was stuttering more than he could control. His breathing was heavy again. "How? When?"

"Well, Dr. Banner, that's what I was coming to ask you. Why did you create all of these heroes in your head? How did you come up with arc reactor technology and the thought of Vibranium and Asgard? We've discovered by listening to your stories that Vibranium is real, and we decided to use it to keep you properly contained and under control, but we don't understand arc reactor technology or the multi-universe theory."

Bruce curled up his knees to his chin. "I don't know, I don't know. I thought Howard Stark created the arc reactor with Anton Vanko. And I thought that Thor and Loki came from Asgard and we live in what they call Midgard. I don't know how I just came up with this."

"Well what else I'd like to know, Bruce, is _why_? The psychiatrists here have ideas, but I want to know if they're right."

"Psychiatrists?" Bruce asked, bringing his head up from his hands.

Fury nodded. "They think that you created these multiple personalities to keep yourself from becoming the Hulk. Some of them think it was sort of like a mood elevator for you, that it kept you sane. Or so you supposedly thought. Obviously it didn't."

Bruce winced, his eyes tightening as emotions were being held back from them. "Are you saying I'm mentally unstable?"

Nick nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. But why, Bruce? Why did you create Tony and Steve and everyone else? Why did you think up these technologies and theories? And hell, those theories may be right; those technologies might be accessible. We're waiting to hear from you how you came to these conclusions."

Bruce put his face in his hands again. "I don't know anything. I didn't even know that I did all of this." Then he paused, looking up at Nick. "I don't believe you."

Nick cocked his eyebrow. "You don't?"

Bruce started to stand, shaking his head, and Fury was on his feet before Bruce. "No, I don't believe you, Director Fury. How could I possibly think of all of these things just for my own personal entertainment? Are you telling me that I created the thoughts of Hydra? Of everyone that served with Captain America in World War II? What about Pepper Potts? Is she real? What about Phil Coulson?"

Nick shook his head, frowning. "No, you created them all. I'm the only person from your stories that actually exists. That's why I was surprised to hear that I was included in them."

Bruce kept a straight face for a few seconds, then he chuckled, falling back slowly so that he leaned against the wall. As he slid down the wall, his feet sliding out in front of him, his laughter picked up, until he was sitting on the ground, arms limp at his sides, laughing manically.

Nick frowned again at him, then looked at the camera in the corner of the room. The same two men from before wearing all white came back in with the Vibranium jacket and put it on Bruce, locking it shut. One of them gave him another shot of the astringent as he roared, trying to break free.

Fury walked out the door, leaving the scene behind him. He could hear Bruce screaming all the way down the hall, until he was outside. He stopped outside those doors, just standing there for a moment. He ran a hand across his smooth head, sighing. After another few seconds he went down the stairs and started to walk down the cobblestone path towards the parking lot.

Once there, he walked up to a car that Agent Coulson leaned against. Coulson half smiled at him. "How'd he take it?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Fury shook his head. "Not well. But I didn't expect him to. It's better that he doesn't know the truth."

Coulson gave him a nod and then the two got into their black car and drove away. During the ride, Coulson turned on his radio. A woman news reporter was speaking.

"_-wrecking havoc in Baltimore. This is the second time that the city has been attacked again after just being rebuilt. Marines deployed into the city this morning, but had to retreat after only five hours. The only real person that seems to be able to stand up to Loki and his army of otherworldly creatures is Thor, a man believed to be his older brother. This has been going on for five months now, and the question on everyone's mind seems to be, with the other Avengers out of commission, how can we expect to fight back against Loki? If Thor and the military can't gain control of the situation soon, I think it's safe to assume that the world may never know peace again."_

Nick switched off the radio then looked out the window. He didn't want to hear anymore. He couldn't stand it.

* * *

They drove for about an hour before pulling up to the gates of a cemetery. Coulson turned the key, hushing the engine, then glanced at Fury. Fury gave him a nod and then they both stepped out of the car.

About 36 rows into the ceremony, they took a left and headed towards the center of that row. There they found their reason for coming: a large monument of a man holding the planet. Engraved in the bottom of the monument were the words, _'Here lie the finest heroes the world will ever know_.'

Laying on the monument was a bouquet of red roses and yellow lilies.

Coulson frowned. "Looks like Pepper was already here."

Fury nodded. "She comes once a week to leave flowers. Only a bouquet for Tony, though." He kneeled down and traced his fingers over the names in the monument. _Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye. _He stayed kneeled for a minute or two before standing again.

Coulson looked at Fury questioningly. "Director Fury, do you plan to ever tell Dr. Banner the truth about what happened?"

Fury just stared at the monument a bit longer, then shook his head. "No." He looked at Coulson. "He can never know what happened that day in the helicarrier. He believes that he killed you and no one else when he lost control, and we must let him believe that. It's best for him if he tries to believe what I told him - that none of it ever happened, that none of this ever existed."

Coulson crossed his arms. "But couldn't we use the Hulk to fight Loki and his army?"

Fury looked at the ground. "I don't believe it would make much difference, Agent Coulson. Dr. Banner was able to kill four _human _heroes, along with a few other agents." He looked at Coulson. "I'm not sure if he'd be up to killing a god and his army. And if he did ever find out that he killed four of his own teammates on accident, I believe he'd try his best to refrain from ever unleashing the Hulk again, whether if it was to fight Loki or not."

Coulson nodded, looking at the monument. "I suppose you're right. …I just wish that things weren't this way."

"I wish things were different too, Phil. But they're not. There's nothing we can do about it now."

They stood there for a bit longer before getting back in their car. They were silent as they drove away, back into the destruction and chaos that had once been known as Manhattan.

* * *

So you understand what this was right? This was sort of a 'what if' oneshot. This was what if Bruce accidentally killed most of the Avengers and a few agents when he lost control? And when they found him on the ground they locked him up. Thor would've lived because he wasn't on the helicarrier, Loki would've taken control of everything, and Thor wouldn't have been able to fight him alone. Thus, Loki rules the world and Bruce thinks he's insane.


End file.
